View to the night sky in August, to find the Perseus constellation from where the Persides appeares to originate.

Tonight and 10 years later, the night was warm and the sky cloudless, so I sat in the garden and tried to spot the Persides again. During 20 minutes, I saw four quite impressive ones. But at the same time, I saw 6 slowly moving objects in the sky, that displayed continously shining tiny points and which moved slowly via one third of the sky. I think that these have been man made satellites of the Star-Link projects (by Elon Musk).

A picture of Tübingen town hall at night (long exposure). The dotted line on the dark sky (in the center of the picture) is a swarm of the Star-Link satellites (visible to the naked eye)

But even by following these rules, one does not has to sacrifice all its personal relationships.

Is the sky really the only limit ???  Yes, the least for human creativity, in arts, science and technology. Just see how Elon Musk has shown us not to listen to all the nay-sayers, but look for allies who join you in making your wildest dreams come real.

I will have the chance to take a three year sabbatical from our research center, during which time it will go through a mayor re-structuring. And these are my plans for the three years:

1st year: Take a lecturer position at University of California Irvine (medical stem cell research) and improve my guitar skills

2nd year:  Guest professor in Shenzhen University, China, and on weekends work as a nude model for the UK journal “The Garden”

3rd year:  Work as guest research associate at the Weizman Institute in Rehovot / Israel, and develop together with the IDF an automated detectors for air-born corona-virus,

Actually, I also have an offer to lead a research group in London on cancer stem cells, but considering that I’m already working for the UK journal “The Garden” as a nude model, I probably will leave this for later.

At 9.40 am my master student arrived, whom a had not seen for the last 3 month after he did his last experiments.  Two weeks ago he called to tell me that all his MSc thesis drafts got lost after he visited Munich Oktoberfest. O.k., I thought, the guy will have to rewrite the few parts he had not backed up then. A week ago he send an e-mail to tell me his parents had used his backup USB stick to store all holyday photos on, thereby overwriting the backup.  Today he came around with a MSC thesis rewritten from scrap within a week, to ask me my opinion and corrections.   I asked him to show me his protocoll-book with the original records and data. He sad “Sorry, but the Lab-book was also stolen at the Oktoberfest”.   This is the final disaster:  Without the original protocol documentation, all his master thesis are worth nothing and publication is a joke.

At 11.20 am a secretary from another Institute asked me for an advice of how to organize a lecture series. I told her this and that, and also that the students usually like to have name badges to be identified as course participants at the cafeteria. An hour later she asked me how such name badges can be made, and what she should write on them. I remained very calm, I don’t know why.

After lunch my office door opended and in came a strange guy from Japan. Looked like a world traveller with two suitcases. Explained me he just arrived from Minnesota University, where he skipped his BSc biology study. Asked me if he can work with me, doing proteomics and radiation biology. He said he can not go to Japan, cause everything there is radioactive, and he has documentation in his suitcase, and therefore the Japanese police is after him. He can not return to the US, since they also hunt him, because he knows too much. He said he does not want to study further, ’cause Master or PhD is too hard for him. And becoming a professor would not satisfy his ambitiouns to tell the world all the things he knows (and which are written in his documents).  He also considered becoming a director of his own company, but he is not so much interested in making lots of money. At the moment he has not a single pence to take the bus to town, therefore he asked me very politely if he could sleep somewhere in our institutes building   ( I like the Japanese people so much, for their politeness. He bowed again and again, even if I told him that our Institute is also completely contaminated by radioactive stuff, and that he would risk his last few brain cells by staying here overnight).

So happy, that tonight I go rehersing with our rock band. I hope we play some dirty Punk tonight in the backstore of this Munich petrol station.

Sorry, but I did not managed to work on the manuscript, or on the DSc thesis.  But I promise, tomorrow I will do nothing else (unless a silly MSc student comes with new horror messages, or a stupid secretary askes for advice how to sharpen a pencil, or a Japanese weirdo wants to colaborate with me to teach the whole mankind).

Dear Michael,

Three weeks ago you asked what are the chances of a democratic and civil progress in Iran, with a new president Rouhani and an old regime. For a young men who faces death penalty for a crime he committed at the age of eight, I’m afraid, any such changes will come too late. As Hrana News Agency reported today, the  juvenile offender who has spent 10 years in prison for a crime committed at the age of eight will be hanged next week in Tehran.

According to a report by Shargh Newspaper, the plaintiff has demanded approximately $500,000 in reparation before giving the required consent for the sentence to be commuted.  Iranian criminal law allows death penalty for children, but the sentence can be carried out only after the child reaches 18 .

On Friday, July 5, 2013, a play will be held at Arasbaran Cultural Center in Tehran to collect donations for the defendant.  The show, titled the Blue Sensation of Death, is about imprisoned juvenile offenders.

Take Care, Dear  /Ghazal

نــامه جدید رخشان بنی اعتماد چندروز پیش در باره تئاتر “احساس آبی مرگ” و اهمیت دیدن آن و کمک به فرهنگ سازی ضد خشونت که ضرورت جامعه مان است  .

دوستان سلام این روزها در فرهنگسرای ارسباران تئاتر مستند “احساس آبی مرگ” به کارگردانی امین میری و نویسندگی سجاد افشاریان بر صحنه است.

این نمایش بسیار تاثیرگذار است و بر اساس موارد واقعی نوجوانان مجرم محکوم به مرگ نوشته و اجرا می شود.

در کشوری که مردم را دعوت به تماشای اعدام می کنند این جوانان هنرمند ما را دعوت به تماشای این نمایش می کنند که بر هر کس که خود را ضد اعدام می داند دیدن آن واجب است.   اما حرف مهم در مورد نمایش جمعه شب است .

نمایش احساسِ آبی مرگ هر شب ساعت 21 توی سالن اصلی فرهنگسرای ارسباران اجرا می شه .. این نمایش در مورد بچه هایی ِ که هیچ فرقی با ما ندارن و بر حسبِ اتفاق اونا تویِ کانون زندگی می کنن و ما بیرون .. حکم یکی از بچه ها به اسم صابر اومده … هفته یِ دیگه میره بالای ِ دار وُ با اطلاعاتی ک ما داریم بی گناه جــون میده …

شاکیش پونصد ملیون خواسته که با کمک کانون وکلا و خیرین سیصد وُ سی وُ پنج ملیون جمع شده . صد وُ شصت وُ پنج ملیون کم داریم که امیدواریم تو اجرای ِ خیریه ای که جمعه گذاشتیم با کمک شما ها حتی یِ دونه هزاری که روی هم بزاریم جمع شه ..

صابر هشت ، نه سالِ که توی ِ کانون و زندانِ از بچه گیش هیچی نفهمیده … با اطمینانِ به این که بی گناهِ همه یِ ما می تونیم کمک کنیم تا سر بی گناه بالایِ دار نره .. مثلِ ِ هر کارِ خیرِ دیگه ای هیچ اصراری در میون نیست ولی حضورتون در روز جمعه باعثِ حالِ خوبِ هممون می شه … ممکنه بعد از اجرا چشمامون خیس اشک شه ولی باز هم می گم حالِ جمعی ِ همه مون بهتر می شه …   حال من از شما می خواهم که جمعه ساعت 9 شب ارسباران باشید و همت عالی بلیت نمایش را بخرید .

ارسباران 200 صندلی جا دارد اگر به طور متوسط هر بلیط 50 هزار تومان فروخته شود و اگر همه همت کنیم و برویم دیدن نمایش دیه صابر جمع می شود وگرنه صابر هفته دیگر اعدام خواهد شد. بیایید همه بیایید همه جمعه شب ارسباران باشیم.

کمپین درخواست از هنرمندان برای شکستن سکوت پنجشنبه, ۱۳ تیر, ۱۳۹۲

Dear Ghazal,

If there is really change to come in Iran, only time will tell. At the moment only names have been replaced by other names. But what is very important (I think Naj already mentioend this some days ago) that the people have expressed their desire for a change in policies. They gave their votes to the candidate who – in contrast to the other five candidates – based his campaign on change, freedom, less restrictive domestic politics and international relations based on partnership with its neighbors, with Israel, the US and the West.

But my concern is how free is the new president Hassan Rouhani to implement these difficult goals ? Will the corrupt regime, the basidj thugs and the mullahs stay quiet, when their privileges are threatened ?  What can Rouhani do in a society with hundreds of thousands of subordinates of the established security forces, folks who have not learned much more in life than beating and harassing the people ?
Rouhani has a difficult job to do. I hope he has more fortune than Khatami in standing strong against the surpreme leader and against the Guardian Council. If the word democracy has any meaning, than to respect the peoples decision for Rouhani in these elections, and not allow the ayatollahs or self declared faith guards or a senile deputy of the 13th imam to overrule this vote.

Take Care, Michael

Yet the official results are not announced, but this time the Iranian officials have a valid explanation for this: against all forcasts, the 2013 ballots were frequented by more than 70% of all eligible voters and thus had to be kept open for an additional 5 hours.
It seems that when the counting started at 9 pm CET or midnight in Tehran, the volunteers had a long and sleepless night to spent. Now, with the first pre-result estimates (after counting 90% of all votes) there seems to be a likely winner: Hassan Rouhani, who recently gave an enthusistic speech and demands more freedom, less dogmatism: a agenda, that was greeted with passion by his young and active supporters. If the estimates are right, than 51% of all Iranians trust Rouhani to lead their country into a better future. But it would be to simple to judge the election simply by numbers and percentages, as done in Western countries with their standard and almost boring regular democratic selection process. In Iran, the election day is also colourful and vivid, and looking into the faces of the voters makes us understand a little better what a nation of 80 millions dream of.

Bill posts showing the presidential candidates on Tehran streets. This particular candidate, Mr. Saeed  Jalili seems to attract much less attention from his own people than he got 4 month ago at the Munich Conference for International Security affairs. He is counted as a hard-liner and not much loved by the Iranian people who are desperatly hoping for change.

Long queues mark the polling stations and voters are waiting patiently to exploit their right to select the new president.  Due to the unexpected high voter turnout, the polling offices had to stay open till midnight.

Will this man, Hassan Rouhani end the 12 years of dim and rediculous Ahmadenijad leadership of the country ? Currently, at 11 am local Tehran time the estimates give Rouhani more than 51 %, almost 3 times more than the 2nd next.  In case that the remaining ~ 10% of yet uncounted ballots can not support Rouhanis winning position, there will be a run-off between him and the second best, Tehrans current mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.

As always in public activities, Iranian laws require a separation between men and women. At this well lid, fabric covered polling bay woman stay among their likes and might not only debate about the president to come, but also about where to buy cheap food and how to raise the children. In any case, both issues will also be strongly depend on the new president whom they give their votes here.

Men, in contrast, like to pose for the camera.

… And if one dares to wear blue glasses, he leaves no doubt whom he will support. The young, educated and modern Iranians hope that Rouhani will be the next president. Mr. Blue-Eyes and Blue Finger on this photography, however, is an Iranian expat in Washington D.C. So for him showing up a liberal and secular life style is easy.

For this Iranian young beauty, however, going to the polls with some inches of hair leaking under her chador is a demonstration of pride and courage.

Thanks BBC for the nice photographs. I hope you don’t mind me putting some intelligent captitions on them. In terms of copyright issues, I guess that you have neither asked the Iranian people whom you photographed for permission of publishing them at the BBC website.  So f…k up, old aunty BBC and let me give the people at least a more righteous voice.

The Berlin Academy of Fine Arts helds an exhibition of drawings on paper by Meir Hussein Mussavi. The exhibition opened with a vernisage on Friday, June 7th and welcomes visitors till Sunday, June 23rd 2013.  The Academy is located at Paris Square next to the Brandenburg gate. The exhibition flyer describes Mousavis abstract drawings as visual poetry.

Mir Hussein Mousavi: No Title

His oevre shows papers filled with grafic elements, resembling ancient writings, abstract coloured signs, and symbols inspired by geometric and organic forms. Abstract symbols, related to memories and philosophical metaphors merge to complex structures. Fractures, torns through the paper and burned marks reminds the observer of the frictions and conflicts of an individual person in a society full of political and social constrains.
Mousavi, who counts the Persian mythology as his main influence, was not able to come to Berlin to open his exhibition himself. The artist and former presidential candidate is banned from all political activities and kept under house arrest in Tehran.

Not surprisingly, no official delegate from the Iranian embassy in Berlin was seen at the exhibitions vernissage. Maybe IRI officials have to change their mind after Fridays presidential election and at least will join the finissage.

Further information only in German is here

Yesterday, June 1st during a pre-election campaign of Hassan Rouhani, his mainly young supporters shouted “Honour to Mousavi, Wellcome to Rouhani”. The meeting took place in Tehran’s Jamaran district. Rouhani urged all his supporters to attend the presidental elections. He demands the release of all political prisoners and the end of the securitized atmosphere. He called for a free, prosperous and peaceful Iran. The Rouhani campaign’s head of youth affairs was detained at this event.

It is good to see that the Bavarian Television placed its microphone right in front of Mr. Rouhani. So we will hopefully get all information first hand.

Michael, you recently expressed some reluctance when I asked you if you will come to Stockholm for a conference.  In your reply to my letter you mentioned 2 possible occasions that would prompt you to visit Sweden. Apart from a ABBA reunion concert and you being nominated the Nobel prize, you left the 3rd option empty. I know your obsession with countries in political turmoil, and exactly this had happened during the last three weeks here around Stockholm. Some of the riots of youngsters, smashing cars on the streets, rampaging against the police and setting fire to schools and other public buildings started here in the suburbs, also in the district of Kista, were some friends and relatives are living. We were really scared, and now we are also concerned that the pictures of the burning cars and the broken shop windows might damage the reputation of Sweden abroad.

Take Care,

/ghazal

———————————————————————————————-

Dear Ghazal, I don’t think that these riots have any political base.  I think that the young folks that rampaged the streets were just set up by the cold and dim climate in Sweden. So they thought to set fire to cars and shops, only to warm up a bit and celebrate the start of summer.

Michael